Page 18 of Scrape the Barrel
“Everyone can use a break, Callan, but you don’t need to be the one to give it to me. You don’t owe me anything.” Ugh, what was my problem? He was being so nice, and I was being a total bitch. I should just take what he was offering and appreciate it.
“I know.” He dropped his hand. “But if you’ll let me, I’d like to try. At least for an hour during her lessons.”
I pursed my lips together, glancing over at Avery, then back to Callan. “Okay.”
I didn’t want people to see me as incapable of handling Avery on my own, but why was I getting defensive over someone offering to give me a much-needed break? There was no crime in taking a step back from your child for an hour.
“If you want to go up to the house, you can. Or stay down here. Whichever. But she’s in good hands.”
By the way he said it, he meant it. “I know. Thank you.”
“We’ll be done in an hour.” Callan took a second longer to study me, then turned to head for Avery, immediately falling into his casual, cool self with her.
After watching them put the halter on Red, I headed back out to my car to grab my romance novel from the center console. Closing the door, I looked around to find a place to read and settled on the chair sitting by the white barn. Instead of leaving it where it was, I picked it up and moved it closer to the pasture so I could look out at the horses grazing in the field as I got lost in the pages of my book.
An hour wasn’t bad.
This was nice.
I feared I could get used to it.
Twenty minutes later, footsteps approached as I finished the last paragraph in the chapter I was reading. I looked up, expecting to see Callan or Avery, but found Callan’s mother standing there instead.
“Good book?” she asked, glancing at the paperback.
I nodded, closing it. “It is.” I wouldn’t get into the nitty gritty of the smut I’d just read. That was not a conversation I wanted to have with Charlotte Bronson.
“I was wondering if I could ask you a favor,” she started.
I stood from the chair, gripping the book in front of me. “What’s that?”
“We have a meeting for the horse rescue tomorrow night, and I know it’s last minute, but I’d love if you could bring some pastries for everyone. If it’s too much to ask—”
“No, I can do it.” With tonight to prep and tomorrow to bake, I could hurry to get it done. Thankfully, I had the day off, otherwise it wouldn’t be possible. “How many are you thinking? And what time is the meeting?”
“Enough for about fifty people,” she answered with a slight wince. “Is that too many?”
I shook my head. “Not at all.” I’d be up all night, but I didn’t want to turn her down.
“Great. It’s at six p.m. You don’t have to stay for the meeting if you need to be home. I can always have someone drop by and grab them, too. I know finding someone to watch Avery can be difficult. If you want, you can even bring her, if that’s easier.”
Bringing Avery to a meeting for a rescue was the last place she needed to be. She’d sneak around eating all the sweets, and then she’d be up all night. “I’m sure she can have a playdate for a few hours. Don’t worry about having someone pick them up.”
Charlotte nodded. “It’s at the library in town. We rented out the event space in the back. Call me when you get there, and I’ll send one of my boys out to help.”
My fingers brushed along the pages of the book as I gave her a closed-lip smile. “Sounds good.”
She grinned back, patting my arm. “Thanks, Sage. I really appreciate it.”
“Of course.” It’d be a tight timeline, but I’d do my best to pull it off. I had to figure out what to make, account for baking times, be sure I had extras in case any were a bad batch, and prep any fillings tonight. There was a lot that went into catering for that big of a group, but I could do it.
I’d done a lot harder things in life and came out just fine. This wasn’t impossible.
***
I was wrong.
I was currently in the act of kicking myself for agreeing to make enough baked goods for fifty people, plus extrasjust in case.Why did I need to stress myself out more? I should have made the recipe for fifty, but instead I upped it to seventy-five, and that was for each item. What if people wanted more than one? What if some of them burned?
